I don’t remember exactly when I left the Mormon church. 1982 or 1983, probably. I was living in the Avenues area of Salt Lake.
The Home Teachers stopped by for the first time ever. I tried to put them off. They weren’t having it. They got pushy. I pushed back. We got to the point where I told them to remove me from the membership rolls. They asked me to write a letter. I wrote it while they waited.
Then for the next 6 weeks I was deluged with procedural garbage. It drove me nuts. I had the firm idea that when I said I wanted out they should have to let me out then left me alone. Nothing doing. Not in the Church, not in those days.
They held a Bishop’s court. I didn’t go. I’m sure they called or wrote to me about the outcome, but I was focused on saying “Leave me alone!” I have no idea what happened.
About a year ago I started trying to find out whether I was Excommunicated or Disfellowshipped. I wrote to Church HQ in Salt Lake. Never heard back. I asked my local Bishop. He did some checking, said he can’t find any info, and suggested I to write to Church HQ in Salt Lake.
(Confidentially, I think he’s afraid I might want to come back and it might put him in the middle of a controversy about gays in the Church.)
Today I was cleaning out my bookmarks. I came across this one: Quitmormon.com. (Ready to leave the Church? Let us help.)
Resigning from the Mormon church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints) can be a tedious and painful process. If you've decided that you no longer want to be a member of the church, resigning on your own can result in unwanted contact from church leaders and multiple requests before your resignation is finally processed. We provide a free service that lets you resign without the hassle.
I can’t think why I might have saved that one. Proof, maybe, that other people have hassles if they try to leave. Or maybe I wanted to share it with some of my relatives who stay only because they don’t want to deal with it.